Apparatus for releasing locking mechanism of vault doors



Nov. 28, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 26, 1948 Nov. 28, 1950 H. L. HENKEL APPARATUS FOR RELEASING LOCKING MECHANISM OF VAULT 000125 r 7 Filed April 26, 1948 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 HARVEYL'.HE-KEL,

Patented Nov. 28, 1950 L APPARATUS FOR RELEASING LOCKING MECHANISM OF VAULT DOORS Harvey L. Henkel', Hamilton, Ohio, assignor' to Herring-Hall-Marvin Safe Company, Hamil ton, Ohio, a corporation of Florida Application April 26, 1948, Serial No. 23,214

This. invention relates to a lock mechanism for doors. of a compartment and more particularly to a mechanism for releasing the lock from within thecompartment.

In some instances, persons have become accidentally trapped in vaults when no one capable of opening the door to allow their escape from the vault is. present. Statutes in some localities require bank vault doors to be equipped with more than one lock as a safety measure. The key or combination of each of the locks will be in the possession of different individuals and it. then becomes necessary for at least two people to be present when a. vault. is opened. It is, therefore, desirable to provide means for someone to open the. door from. within the vault.

It is an object. of this invention to provide means for releasing the locking mechanism on the door of a vault. from within the vault to allow the door to be opened.

Another object of this invention is to provide means for simultaneously releasing a plurality of. locks in the door of a vault from inside of the vault to allow the door tov be opened by a person trapped within. the vault.

Another object of this invention is. to provide a simple means for disengaging the. bolts of a vault door from the wall. of the vault while the locks of the vault door are in the locked Dosi tion.

With these and other objects in mind which will become apparent in the following detailed description of the invention, this. invention resides in lock bolts which may be displaced by the operation of a handle from within the vault to allow the bolt work of the vault door to be operated and the door opened.

In the drawings Figure 1 is; a view in elevation showing the mechanism comprising this invention from within the vault with the inner cover plate of the '7 Claims. (Cl. 292-1) Figure 5 is a vertical sectional view through Referring to- Figure 1, a door I, partly broken away, is illustrated having a swinging edge 2. An edge plate 3 extends along the swinging edge 2 of the door and is apertu-red at 4 and 5 to support bolts 6 and l (hereafter called door bolts); and allow them to slide therethrough. Door bolts 6 and 1' engage recesses, not shown, in the wall of the vault to hold the door in a closed position. Door bolts 6 and 11 are free to slide horizontally through the openings 4 and 5' in edge plate 3' and in their supporting hangers 8 and 9, respectively.

Vault door I is equipped with two locks Ill and H, each having sliding bolt [2 (hereafter called lock bolts) which are shown in Figure I with theirlock bolts I! in the extended or locked position. These. locks may be of any conventional type: operated either by a keyor by a dial for aligning tumblers within the look. When the vaultv is unlocked from the outside, the lock bolts l2 are withdrawn intothe locks I0 and I! to'a position allowing operation of the bolt work of the door.

A carrying bar I3 is secured to door boltsli and l by rivets I4 and t5, respectively. Carrying bar l3 abuts edge plate 3 when door bolts 6 and I are in the extended position illustrated in Figure 1'. A pair of lock dogs l6 are actuated by carry: ing bar t3 and engage the lock bolts l2 when they are in the lockedposition to prevent movement of the carrying bar [3 in the manner hereinafter described. Carrying bar l3, dogs [5; and door bolts 6 and T comprise the bolt work of the vault door.

Referring to Figure 3, an arbor Il passing through a bearing I 'l' in the front plate, indicated generally by [8, to the outside of the vault for the reception of a handle, not shown, is illustrated. An arm I9 secured to arbor IT by a key or other suitable means to rotate integrally with the arbor, is held on the inner end of arbor IT by a nut 20. A slot 2|, best shown in phantom in Figure l, is provided in arm I9 for engagement with a post 22 secured to the carrying bar I9. 'As the arbor IT is rotated, arm I9 will engage post 22 to move carrying bar [3 when the locks 10' and I I are in the unlocked position.

Referring to Figure 2, the dogs l6 are illustrated pivotally mounted on a post 23 secured to the front plate E8 of the vault. Dogs l6 have an actuating arm 24 in which a slot 25 is provided to receive a pin 26 extending from the front surface of carrying bar 13. A locking arm 21 extends substantially at right angles to actuating arm 24 from the hub of dogs IE to a position adjacent lock bolts l2. As carrying bar I3 is moved,

pin 26 engages actuating arm 24 and dog I6 and rotates that dog around post 23 secured to the front plate 18 of the vault. If the lock bolts l2 are in the extended position, however, locking arms 2'! of the dogs engage the sides of the lock bolt and prevent movement of carrying bar l3. Lock stumps 28 are provided adjacent lock bolts l2 on the side remote from the locking arms 27 for support of the lock bolts 12.

Lock bolts 12 each have an extension 30 extend-- ing from their ends for engagement with the locking arms 21 of dog I6. Latching members 30 are pivotall mounted on pins 31 passing through shoulders 32 on the lock bolts. ()ne end of a torsion spring 33 on the spindle engages the extensions 3|] and the other end engages the lock bolt I2 to hold the extensions in a normal position in which they are merely a longitudinal extension of the outer end of the lock bolts [2; The

inner ends 34 of the extensions are curved as ilthrough a slot 38 in the carrying plate 13 which allows the carrying plate I 3 to slide relative to the arbor as the bolt work of the door is operated.

g A cam, indicated generally by 39, is keyed to the end of arbor 3-5 remote from the handle 31 and is held in place by a nut 4!]. Cam 39 is substantially V-shaped and has an arm 4| with an aperture 42 for the reception of a post 43 secured to carrying bar l3. Aperture 42 is larger in diameter than post 43 to allow movement of the cam 39 before it engages post 43.

Cam 39 also has a beveled arm 44 integral therewith extending from the arbor 35towards the hinged edge of the door. Arm 44 is beveled at 45 in the manner shown in Figures 3, 4, and 5 toactuate a depressor bar 46. Depressor bar 46 is spaced from the front plate l8 directly in front of the beveled arm 44 of cam 39. In the form shown in the drawings, depressor bar 45 is equipped with sleeves 4! slidable on studs 48 engaging the front plate I B. Compressed helical springs 49 between front plate l8 and depressor bar 46 urge the depressor bar towards the beveled arm 44 of cam 39.

Depressor bar 46 extends to a position adjacent the lock bolts I2 and is equipped with pins 50 extending from each of its ends over the latching members 30 of lock bolts I2. A channel plate 5| is secured to depressor bar 46 by any suitable means such as screw 52 directly below beveled arm. 44 for engagement with that arm as arbor 31 is turned. A roller 53 journaled in the sides of the channel engages the beveled surface 45 of lever 39. Springs 49 lift the depressor bar 45 and consequentl pins 50 to a normal position spaced above the latching member.

When the lock bolts I2 of locks l and II are in an extended position, the vault may not be opened by arbor Il. Any attempt to turn arbor I! will result in dogs H engaging the extension of the lock bolts I: to prevent movement of the carrier bar. It is, therefore, necessary to unlock looks I 0 and II before the vault can be opened from the outside.

If one is trapned within the vault, however, he may turn handle 31 to rotate arbor and cam 39. The beveled surface of cam 39 will engage roller 5| and depress the depressor bar 46 which is slidable on studs 48. The pins 52 at the end of the depressor arm bear against the upper surface of extension 30 and depress them to a position illustrated by the dotted lines in Figure 2 in which they will.not engage the bolt work of the door. The structure could, of course, be modified to allow the cam 33 to displace the extension 30 in any direction to a position allowing movement of the bolt work.

The lost motion connection provided by opening 42 having a larger diameter than post 43 allows the carrying bar to remain stationary for a short period even though the arbor 45 is turned. Beveled surface 45 will then ride over the roller 53 to depress the depressor arm and displace the extensions before the post 43 bears against the walls of opening 42. Further rotation of the handle 31 will slide the carrying bar [3 away from the edge plate 3. Since door bolts 6 and l are secured to the carrying bar l3, those bolts are withdrawn from the recesses in the wall of the vault and allow the door to be opened. Any movement of carrying bar l3 will, of course, make it necessary to rotate dogs [6; however, since extensions 30 have been depressed before carrying bar I3 is moved, the locking arms 21 of dog I6 are free to move over the upper surface of 'extensions 30. I

As the vault door is closed and locked, the'outside handle connected to arbor I1 is turned to operate the bolt work and slide door bolts 6 and 1 into engagementwith the recesses in the wall of the vault. As carrying bar I3 is moved 'to the position shown in Figure 1, the post 43 engages the opening 42 to .rotate cam 39 to the locked position. Compressed helical springs 45 are then free to lift depressor bar 46 to a position spaced from the extensions 30 andtorsion springs 33 hold the extensions in an extended 'position.,. There are, therefore, positive means provided to eliminate any possibility of extensions 30 remaining depressed to allow the vault to be opened from the outside when the locks I0 and H are in the locked position.

The release mech'anismdescribed herein is especially suitable for use in vault doors having more than one look engaging the bolt work of the vault door. The novel mechanism simul taneously displaces the lock bolts of each of the locks and operates the bolt work to allow the door to be opened by turning a single handle on an arbor passing through the inside surface of the vault doorf Throughout the description of this invention, the structure has been described in relation to a vault door. Clearly, the invention may be employed in locking mechanism for the closure means of any compartment which may, on occasion, be opened from within.

The present invention has been described in detail in relation to a lock mechanism for doors of a compartment. It is to be understood that the invention is not limited to those details but is limited by the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. Locking mechanism for the door of a compartment comprising door bolts carried by the door for engagement with a wall of the compartment, a carrying bar attached to the bolts and movable therewith, locks having look boltsadapte ed to occupy a position obstructing movement of said carrying bar, a handle operable from with-- in the compartment and connectedwith the c ar rying bar, a cam secured to the handle, and means actuated by the cam to move the lock bolts from their obstructing positions as the handle is turned in a direction to move the bar to disengage said door bolts from said wall.

2. In a door locking mechanism for a vault including boltwork movable to secure and release said door and locks having lock bolts, each lock bolt having an extension pivotally attached thereto, resilient means holding each extension in a normal position to obstruct movement of the boltwork, and means common to said extensions and including a handle operable from within the vault to displace the extension from said obstructing position, and means operatively connecting the handle with the boltwork to move the same.

3. Locking mechanism for the door of a compartment comprising door bolts carried by the door for engagement with. a wall of the compart ment, a carrying bar attached to the bolts and movable therewith, dogs pivotally connected to the door and engaging said bar to be rotated by movement thereof, locks having lock bolts adapted to occupy positions to obstruct rotation of the dogs, a handle operable from within the compartment, means actuated by the handle for displacing the lock bolts from obstructing position to permit rotation of the dogs, and a lost motion connection between the handle and carrying bar to move said bar and disengage said .door bolts after actuation of said means for displacing said lock bolts from obstructing position.

4. Locking mechanism for a vault door having boltwork and means outside the vault for operating the same, a plurality of lock bolts carried by the door and independently movable to positions into and out of engagement with the boltwork to respectively block and permit movement thereof, a common bar member engaging said lock bolts and movable to displace the same from their positions in engagement with the boltwork, and means including cam engaging the bar and manually operable from within the vault for moving the bar to displace said lock bolts and permit movement of the boltwork.

5. In a locking mechanism for a vault door having boltwork, a plurality of independently operated locks on the door, each lock having a lock bolt adapted to be extended and retracted from the lock, an extension movably mounted on each lock bolt and having a position relative to the lock bolt to engage the boltwork when the lock bolt is extended to block door releasing movement of the boltwork, a member common to said extensions and adapted to move the same out of engagement with the boltwork independently of movement of the respective lock bolts, means including a handle operable from within the vault and operatively engaging the boltworls t move the same, said handle also having an operative connection with said member to move said extensions out of engagement with the boltwork.

6. In a locking mechanism for a vault door having boltwork, a plurality of independently operated locks on the door, each lock having a lock bolt adapted to be extended and retracted from the lock, an extension pivotally mounted on each lock bolt and having a position relative to the lock bolt to engage'the boltwork when the lock bolt is extended to block door releasing movement of the boltwork, a depressor bar common to and adjacent said extensions, resilient means urging said bar away from said extensions, a roller on said bar, a handle operable within the vault and carrying a cam engaging said roller to move the bar against said extensions and pivotally displace the same away from boltwork engaging position upon movement of the handle.

7. In a locking mechanism for a vault door having boltwork, a plurality of independently operated locks on the door, each lock having a lock bolt adapted to be extended and retracted from the lock, an extension pivotally mounted on each lock bolt and having a position relative t the lock bolt to engage the boltwork when the lock bolt is extended to block door releasing movement of the boltwork, a depressor bar common to and adjacent said extensions, resilient means urging said bar away from said extensions, a roller on said bar, a handle operable within the vault and carrying a cam engaging said roller to move the bar against said extensions and pivotally displace the same away from boltwork engaging position upon movement of the handle, and lost motion means operatively connecting the handle with the boltwork to move the boltwork to door releasing position after displacement of said extensions.

HARVEY L. HENKEL.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 778,284 Tabb Dec. 27, 1904 975,013 Augenbraun Nov. 8, 1910 2,094,369 Millice Sept. 28, 1937 

